Chronic kidney disease is much more likely to develop in overweight and obese people with High Blood Pressure (hypertension) than in those of ideal body weight, according to the results of a large study.

In the past two decades, the prevalence of Obesity in US adults has doubled from 15 percent to more than 30 percent such that two thirds of US adults are now overweight or obese. Overweight and Obesity are established risk factors for several chronic ailments, including hypertension, diabetes, and heart disease, but information on risk for chronic kidney disease in overweight and obese individuals is currently limited.

The current study supports “an association between Obesity and risk of chronic kidney disease in this high-risk population,” lead investigator Dr. Holly Kramer told Reuters Health. “Obesity represents a constellation of risk factors mediated by insulin resistance which we know increases cardiovascular risk.”

Kramer of Loyola Medical Center, Maywood, Illinois and colleagues reviewed data for almost 6000 hypertensive adults, none of whom had chronic kidney disease at baseline.

After 5 years, the incidence of chronic kidney disease was 28 percent in those of ideal body mass, 31 percent in those who were overweight and 34 percent in the obese, the researchers report in the American Journal of kidney diseases.

After adjustment for factors including diabetes and blood pressure, both being overweight and being obese were significantly associated with the development of chronic kidney disease.

Given the effect of Obesity on Heart disease, Kramer concluded, “it shouldn’t be surprising that obesity also increases the risk of chronic kidney disease. The propagating epidemic of obesity in the US can only lead to increasing incidence of CKD over the next decade.”

SOURCE: American Journal of Kidney Disease, October 2005.